A stint living in a zoo inspired David Elliot to pursue a career as an illustrator.
The award-winning illustrator of favourites such as the Redwall series by UK author Brian Jacques, was living in Edinburgh and had run out of money.
“I went to get a job at a hotel, and the manager wasn’t there, so I wandered next door to the zoo, and there was a wee notice [for a job]. I promised them the world to get that job,” Elliot laughs.
It worked, and he was promptly awarded the role of a “Zoo Gatekeeper”.
“I actually lived in the zoo. I’d close it up at night, and wander around and draw – it gave me the opportunity to indulge myself, it was such an exciting and imaginary place.”
Animals are a common feature of Elliot’s work, but he says it wasn’t the zoo that got him interested – he’s always been a fan of creatures, and loved drawing and writing.
“Being an author and illustrator is the best mix – you get it all,” he says.
Living in a zoo wasn’t a one-off weird job either; Elliot says luck has drawn him into a whole range of wacky things.
In 1979 he was a dishwasher in Antarctica. A friend of his was trying to win an Antarctic catering company contract, and convinced Elliot to be one of the workers.
“In the end, he actually missed out on the contract, but I’d been so psyched, I kept going,” says Elliot, who subsequently discovered who did win the deal, and convinced them to hire him.
“I was lucky enough to get the first flight in after the winter, so the whole of Scott Base was in this perpetual ultra violet twilight. A place like that makes you aware of your own existence,” he says.
Elliot was in Antarctica at the time of the Erebus disaster, and although the accident was too far away for him to be involved, police from the crash came and went from the base.
“We tried to make their lives a bit lighter during those times,” he says.
The Antarctic job wasn’t the last of the interesting professions, however. Elliot worked with a small team designing Australian pubs out of an office in Christchurch.
“People were big on themed pubs at that time. There were five of us, and we’d just sit down on a Monday morning and throw the weirdest ideas around, ” he laughs. “It was a unique job, and it was a good broad practical education. It got me into business discipline and deadlines.”
 Elliot’s gift of nabbing weird jobs hasn’t ended yet. He’s just come to a deal with a publishing house in Estonia, who emailed enquiring whether it could use his images for an Estonian translation of Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark.
Elliot had previously illustrated a limited edition version of the book with the University of Otago.
“That shows the power of the Internet – [the Estonians] probably initially thought they were 19th Century paintings,” he laughs.
Elliot will be one of a bunch of well-known authors, illustrators, and storytellers who will feature at the Storylines Festival in Wellington.
The festival acts to encourage and support children’s literature in New Zealand.
“It’s really good for kids to go and meet authors and illustrators and see how they work, because it give them a practical example and an idea of how they could go about it themselves,” says Elliot. “For us, our work can be quite isolating, so it’s nice to get to talk to other artists – and of course, meet the kids.”
Storylines Festival, Wellington Free Family Day, 10am-3pm, the Town Hall, August 15.